Times Observer photo by Brian Ferry Thousands of books will be on sale to support cancer survivors at the Warren County YMCA Livestrong Book Sale, Thursday, May 11, through Saturday, May 13.

The Livestrong program supports cancer survivors and the annual Livestrong Book Sale supports the program.

This year’s event – the fifth – with almost 10,000 books on display will take up an entire gym at the Warren County YMCA. “It’s our biggest one to date,” Jennifer Suppa said.

The event is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday, May 11, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, May 12, and 8 a.m. to noon Saturday, May 13.

“The Livestrong program is run only on donations and fundraising,” Suppa said.

YMCA representatives thanked the Elk Township Historical Society for a major boost to that fundraising effort. “They gave us over 5,000 books toward our book sale,” Suppa said.

She is looking for hands to help with the sale.

Volunteers available to help set up after noon on Wednesday, May 10, to help during sale hours, and to help tear down after noon on Saturday are encouraged to call Suppa at 814-726-0110 ext. 112.

Dollars raised from the sale go to offset the costs associated with the Livestrong program.

“The Livestrong Program is a free 12-week program for cancer survivors,” Chris Dolan said. “We are very blessed to have the (Warren General Hospital) Cancer Care Center in our community.”

“They go to the Cancer Center for treatment,” she said. “Then they come to the Y to heal.”

Survivors – there is no requirement that a participant be completely done with treatments – will have a fitness program designed specifically for them and get together twice a week for 12 weeks. Therre are strength and cardio aspects of the class as well as a chance to sample other YMCA programs like yoga, bouncing for fitness, Silver Sneakers, and aquatics fitness. At the end of the program is a graduation ceremony.

“It’s a fitness program, but it’s so much more than that,” Dolan said. “They get to meet people who are dealing with the same situation that they are. The connections that they build help that healing process continue.”

Intakes for the next session are being conducted and survivors interested in signing up may reach out to Dolan at chris@warrenymca.org.

“We will talk about their cancer journey so we can design an appropriate fitness program specific to their needs,” she said.